Russian President Vladimir Putin said after extending his rule in an election that stifled opposition that Moscow will not relent in its invasion of Ukraine and plans to create a buffer zone to help protect against long-range Ukrainian strikes and cross-border raids. “We will be forced at some point, when we consider it necessary, to create a certain ‘sanitary zone’ on the territories controlled by the (Ukrainian govt),” Putin said late Sunday.This “security zone”, Putin said, “would be quite difficult to penetrate using the foreign-made strike assets at the enemy’s disposal.” A senior Ukrainian official said that the idea was a clear indication that Moscow planned to escalate its war in neighbouring Ukraine. “This is … a direct manifest statement that the war will only escalate,” presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said.
Putin again warned the West against deploying troops to Ukraine. A possible conflict between Russia and Nato would put the world “a step away” from World War III, he said. French President Emmanuel Macron recently said that sending Western troops into Ukraine should not be ruled out, though he said the current situation does not require it. Commenting on the prospects for peace talks with Kyiv, Putin reaffirmed that Russia remains open to negotiations but won’t be lured into a truce that will allow Ukraine to rearm.